Puddings & Pies, Savoury

Curried Spinach Parcels

Kirsten

Can I tell you a secret?

I feel guilty even admitting it.

I don’t want to come across as whinging.

But …

Here goes …

I am – just a little bit – bored with this whole bake-along thing.

I feel so bad for saying it. But it is true.

Here I am, making pastry, again. Yes, I know, I could have gone for choux pastry rather than short crust. Or even a rough puff. I didn’t have to make the same pastry again. I could have changed things up a bit.

spinach parcels 4 - the pink rose bakery

Which is probably why I feel bad admitting that I’m bored. Because it is partly my own fault.

It’s not as if I am desperate to make something different each week but can’t because one post has to be taken up with a bake-along item. With two posts a week I have the scope to make something different. And I do.

But …

I don’t know. I’ve kind of had enough.

However, I started it and I am going to finish it. I am still enjoying watching the programme, so it’s not as if I have reached complete bake-off fatigue. And there are only 3 weeks left. Just 3. I’ve done more than there is left. The finish is in sight and I am going to limp over that finish line if it kills me.

On the plus side, these little parcels are packed with flavour and I have been meaning to make them for a while. So there’s that.

spinach parcels 3 - the pink rose bakery

Another confession – sorry – I put toasted pine nuts in these but I have come to the conclusion that I don’t like pine nuts (unless they are completely blitzed up in pesto). They have a bitter taste that I am not so keen on, so if I was to make these again, I wouldn’t put the pine nuts in. Which is why I haven’t included them in the recipe, but the eagle-eyed amongst you may spot them in the photos.

If pine nuts are completely your thing and you can’t possible contemplate a meal without them, then I put in 50g. Go nuts. Ha! Sorry. Moving on …

These little parcels are delicious as they are, but add some mango chutney and a bit of zero fat greek yoghurt mixed with grated cucumber and a dab of mint sauce and you have the perfect accompaniments in which to dip them.

spinach parcels 1 - the pink rose bakery

It took me 10 minutes to find the jar of mango chutney because, as is always the case, when you want something you can never find it. I looked in all the obvious places and then came to conclusion that there wasn’t an open one in the house, so out I trotted to the garage / second larder because there isn’t enough cupboard space in the kitchen, to retrieve one. Only to find the open one this morning. Typical.

My explorations also yielded the discovery that there are about 6 bottles of ketchup in the house. 6. I have no idea what is happening.

Also, this photo looks like I have put a strange fried egg on top of it. I was going for arty. Failed.

spinach parcels 2 - the pink rose bakery

Curried Spinach Parcels

  • Servings: 12 approximately, of all shapes and sizes
  • Print

 Ingredients:

For the filling:

  • 10g butter
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • 1/2 tsp ground coriander
  • 3 heaped teaspoons Balti curry paste, shop bought is perfectly fine
  • 250g frozen spinach, fresh will give off too much moisture

For the pastry:

  • 80g rice flour
  • 70g sorghum flour
  • 20g buckwheat flour
  • 50g tapioca flour
  • 70g ground almonds
  • 4 tsp flax meal
  • 1 1/2 tsp black onion seeds
  • couple of pinches of sea salt
  • 100g butter, chilled
  • 2 tsp lemon juice
  • 1 large egg
  • 8 – 12 tsp cold water
  • beaten egg, for brushing

Method:

  1. Start by making the filling – melt the butter in a large pan over a medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes until it is soft. Add the spices and the curry paste and cook for a further 3 minutes. Add the spinach, still frozen, and cook until it has melted (the water it gives off will help the sauce stick to it). Set aside and leave to cool while you get on with making the pastry.
  2. Pre-heat the oven to 180 Celsius / 160 fan / 350 Fahrenheit. Line a large baking sheet with non-stick baking parchment.
  3. In a bowl mix together the flours, almonds, flax meal, onion seeds and salt. Add the butter, and using your fingertips, rub it in until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
  4. Add the lemon juice and the egg, plus 4 tsps water. Bring together until it forms a ball, adding more water as necessary. The dough will take quite a bit of water and it should feel quite damp to the touch.
  5. Take some of the pastry and roll it out between two sheets of baking parchment until it is approximately 5mm thick. Using a sharp knife, cut it into rectangles. If you find your pastry is a little unruly and keeps cracking, add a little more water.
  6. Spoon a small amount of the spinach mixture on the rectangles, in the centre of one side. Don’t be tempted to over fill them or you won’t be able to seal them.
  7. Dampen the edges with a little water and, using the paper to help, fold the pastry over to make a rough square shape. Press down the edges and crimp with a fork before transferring them to the baking sheet. Continue until you have used all the pastry (or as much as possible).
  8. Brush the tops with beaten egg and then bake for 20 – 25 minutes until golden.
  9. Leave to cool.
  10. Can be eaten warm or cold. Keep in the fridge.

© The Pink Rose Bakery 2014

10 thoughts on “Curried Spinach Parcels”

    1. That’s exactly how I feel. I like pesto so I must like pine nuts. It doesn’t matter that the basil completely masks the flavour of the pine nuts in pesto!
      I’m not trying them again. That’s it for me and pine nuts unfortunately 🙂

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  2. I have to say that I also felt #GBBO fatigue this year. Partly because I was baking along and partly because this series didn’t engage me as much. I felt like we had seen most of the challenges before and none of the contestants made me feel inspired (unlike last year). Still your spinach parcels look absolutely delicious! Thanks for linking to #GBBO Bake Along

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      1. Personally I love them, esp. toasted but as you don’t I would leave them out; besides there’s loads of other lovely goodies in there.

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